Trijicon’s ACOG - 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Michigan

This article appeared in the April 2025 issue of MiMfg Magazine. Read the full issue and find past issues online.

Durability and reliable functionality are important features for most products but, when it comes to the military, they’re vital. Trijicon’s Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG®) Riflescope not only provides confidence for the military, but it also features extraordinary longevity — making it a trusted name around the world.

Because of the riflescope’s unique properties as well as Wixom-based Trijicon’s impact on the state’s economy, the ACOG was voted the 2024 “Coolest Thing Made in Michigan” in a statewide, people’s choice contest.

Trijicon has led the industry in the development of aiming systems since the company’s founding in 1981 by aeronautical engineer Glyn Bindon and his son, Stephen Bindon, who currently serves as Trijicon’s President and CEO. The two began their company in their home and became the first to bring tritium night sights into the U.S. market.

The tritium and fiber-optic illumination were then carried over into the ACOG and a number of other products, explains Josh Lyall, Director of Marketing at Trijicon.

Production Manager Dana Maul says the ACOG is easy to use in a combat environment, which is why the U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, Special Forces and U.S. allies around the world have been using the ACOG for more than 20 years.

“They know it’s going to last, they know it’s going to be durable and they know it’s always on,” Lyall says. “It always has illumination, so whenever they need to be able to see that reticle on their target, it’s going to be there for them.”

The ACOG is really a one-of-a-kind optic, he adds.

“There’s nothing else like it in the world, and there’s a couple of main factors for that,” Lyall says.

One is its durability.

“The ACOG is actually made of forged aluminum,” he says, adding that Founder Glyn Bindon’s wanted to make the scope as durable as the gun it’s on, Lyall says, and the fact that it is a piece of forged aluminum with almost no moving parts contributes to its durability and longevity.

Bindon’s thought process for making it out of this material was simple: “If we’re going to make an optic to go on top of a carrying handle of an M-16 for the military, why not make it of the same thing that the M-16 carrying handle is made of?”

The second factor is the innovative quality of the illumination.

“It uses a combination of fiber on the top of the optic during the day to draw in light and then, at night if the fiber is not getting any light, there’s tritium inside it, just like in our tritium night sights for pistols,” Lyall says. “That tritium is radioactive, so it glows. Day or night, you have illumination in that reticle but you have no battery, no electronics, nothing to fail, nothing to have to worry about replacing.”

Team Lead Sarah Bell adds that the ACOGs have unique and “cool” designs.

“They’re very popular in regular use for military,” Bell says. “It’s so popular in the military that it’s also in video games. I think that’s neat.”

Because the products protect users and other people, Trijicon team members are invested in making the ACOG and other sights the best that they can be.

“You can easily convince the team to be more engaged when they’re making something like that, where they know someone’s relying on it when they’re in harm’s way,” Maul says.

Bell agrees that what Trijicon produces is an important factor in team members’ commitment to quality.

“It makes me feel that our jobs are a lot more important, because we care about our military,” Bell says, adding that many team members and employees’ family members have served. “This is our friends’ and neighbors’ family that are going to be using these, so it’s important that we make it right.”

With a 44-year history in manufacturing, it’s clear that Trijicon is dedicated to our military, to the state of Michigan and to the well-being of our country as a whole. MMA is proud to recognize Trijicon’s ACOG as the Coolest Thing Made in Michigan, as it stands out in the industry as a trusted tool for our security.

The Coolest Thing Made in Michigan is part of the annual Manufacturing Excellence Awards which celebrates the leaders and products that are pushing the industry forward. Learn more about the awards program and gala.

The 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Michigan award was sponsored by Endeavor IT. Visit online: endeavorit.com.